Sanctuary: Holy Places

sanctuarium was once a place where royalty kept things that were precious to him or her.  Later, it was a place for keeping objects sacred to a religion.  Later still, it came to define a specific part of a church where the Blessed Sacrament was kept in reserve for people to come to pray.  Today, it is most often used for the place in which people gather for worship services.  I wonder, though, if there aren’t other “holy places” that we encounter and even help create.  One of our hymns helps me reflect.

When our heart is in a holy place,
When our heart is in a holy place
We are blessed with love and amazing grace,
When our heart is in a holy place.

Where do you encounter and create love?  Where are the places yesterday or today already when you were surprised by an unexpected gift of some sort?

When we trust the wisdom in each of us,
Every color every creed and kind,
And we see our faces in each other’s eyes,
Then our heart is in a holy place.

When last did you find yourself aware of someone who, up to that moment, was “the other?”  And then, you saw or heard or felt something that allowed that the “other” and you were really not all that different?

When we tell our story from deep inside,
And we listen with a loving mind,
And we hear our voices in each other’s words,
Then our heart is in a holy place.

When is the last time you told a story?  When is the last time you listened with respect and reverence to someone else’s story?

When we share the silence of sacred space,
And the God of our Heart stirs within,
And we hear our voices in each other’s words,
Then our heart is in a holy place.

When did you last enter into silence?  When last did you share that silence with others? When last did you read words that inspired, or listen to words shared from another?

When our heart is in a holy place,
When our heart is in a holy place
We are blessed with love and amazing grace,
When our heart is in a holy place.
When our heart is in a holy place.

Bob Patrick

*When Our Heart Is In A Holy Place, by Joyce Poley; Singing the Journey, p. 1008

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